The University of Louisville College of Business will blend proud traditions and dynamic plans when it relocates its graduate programs to downtown Louisville, creating a state-of-the-art advanced education facility in the heart of the city’s central business district.
The college will build out the space in the 600 block of West Main Street behind four historic building facades recently preserved to provide access to Museum Plaza. The planned $490-million Museum Plaza project, which is expected to re-define the Louisville skyline, also will include commercial, cultural and residential components. (www.museumplaza.net)
In addition to housing the college’s Professional MBA, Entrepreneurship MBA (IMBA) and Master of Accountancy programs with their faculty and administrative staffs, the new Center for Graduate and Executive Education will include facilities for non-degree executive education courses as well as conference and seminar spaces for corporate use.
“Our programs are growing and we simply need more space,” said College of Business Dean Charlie Moyer. “And there’s no place more exciting than downtown Louisville to create a great new learning environment for working professionals. With our focus on entrepreneurship, this will allow our students and faculty to interact with business leaders on every level.”
Last year Entrepreneur magazine and The Princeton Review ranked the college’s graduate program among the top 10 in the U.S. for entrepreneurs. Fortune Small Business magazine rated UofL as one of “America’s best colleges for entrepreneurs” for 2008 based on the success of the graduate program.
The college will own and occupy approximately 40,000 sq. ft. on floors two through six, including tiered classrooms, student lounges, flexible seminar spaces, study rooms and expansive views overlooking the Ohio River. Located at 615-621 West Main, the building’s first floor is expected to host retail and restaurant spaces leased by Museum Plaza.
In design and function, the new building will have two ‘faces’ that create a metaphor for the college’s goals in moving downtown. With one entrance on historic West Main Street, the building will provide the primary connection between Museum Plaza and Louisville’s central business district. A second, contemporary entrance located at the base of the development’s unique funicular (diagonal elevator) faces the river and provides pedestrian access over Washington Street via a new plaza and promenade to the Muhammad Ali Center and the Belvedere.
“We’re connecting Louisville’s past and its future,” said Dean Moyer. “And since the goal is to produce the next generation of business leaders, this is the ideal combination — the leading business school in Kentucky bringing resources into the Commonwealth’s number one business center.”
Construction will commence later this year with occupancy expected before fall 2010.
The $15 million project will be financed by individual and corporate contributions, including a major gift from National City Bank. The center also offers an intended major naming opportunity.
The Main Street location was selected as the most appropriate of seven projects submitted in response to the college’s request for proposals.
“It has everything we were looking for, including convenience, affordability and the opportunity to provide students exceptional learning experiences,” said Dean Moyer. “But it also offered a ‘Wow!’ factor and the potential to expand our relationships with corporate partners. It will be a first-rate facility in every respect.”
By day the Center will host open enrollment, non-degree, executive education programs and provide training and education spaces for use by corporate and conference clients. During evenings and Saturdays, graduate program courses will occupy most of the space.
Undergraduate business programs will remain at the College of Business building on the UofL Belknap campus in Old Louisville.
For more information, visit the website: www.business.louisville.edu/mba
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